You weren't referring to Lillard? The topic of our conversation about the best workout since Durant. Olshey wasn't here for Durant, so I doubt he was the one making that claim.
I think it's easy to "go with your gut" when you're picking a position of need. The real question is whether Olshey would have had the balls to take Durant over Oden. Probably not.
Yeah, I don't think any GM had the "balls" to do that, since almost no one thought it was the right pick at the time. In retrospect, yeah, it would have been nice to know that Oden's body couldn't hold up.
Is anybody saying that the Blazers picked Lillard solely because of his workout in PDX? He also performed very well at the Combine, was productive in college, and his advanced stats were off the charts in terms of percentile rankings. A great workout should also be a factor in deciding to make him the pick, and I'm sure it was a part in validating some of the views the Blazer staff held in regards to Lillard.
Nothing explicit, but that seemed to be the narrative among those draftniks that write and pontificate about such things in the pre-draft period.
I think Lillard had a rise much like Russell Westbrook's. Great combine, great measurables, great workouts. I keep seeing people here and elsewhere reference Damon Stoudamire, but Damon was a good 4" shorter than Lillard, and had stubby arms and limited athleticism.
In the case of Lillard, I think the blazers compiled all of the advanced statistics (such as those shown by Tom Penn on national TV), watched a bunch of tape, interviewed coaches, parents, friends, and came to the opinion that Lillard was they guy. However, to confirm their feelings, they brought in Lillard for a workout - and he absolutely killed it. To make sure he wasn't another Webster, they made sure he could shoot on the move. He could do it all - was in incredible shape, and almost didn't miss a shot. The workout was only one piece of data, but it was the icing on the cake.
